100 Day Creative Challenge Day 66: What won’t leave you alone?
When asked for her advice to aspiring writers Kealohilani answered:
Run! Just kidding. Sort of. Really, I think the best advice I can give is to wait for the book that compels you to write it– the one that you eat, sleep, and breathe.
If you try to force yourself to create an epic story, you will feel the ensuing drudgery quite acutely– and worse, your readers will feel it too.
Conversely, if you wait for the book that won’t leave you alone until you finish it, your readers will feel that energy and it will make it difficult for them to put the book down until they have finished it!
What won’t leave you alone? is an interesting question to ask ourselves when contemplating our creative pursuits.
I have had a novel in my head since 2010 when an idea formed while I was writing in Tuscany. I wrote about what has become my nemesis and how this book just wants to be finished. It won’t leave me alone.
I’m about 50 000 words into the first draft which means there are thousands of words left to write and many months of rewriting and editing to go. After pursuing the dream to Oxford, back to Tuscany (twice), the US and numerous writing retreats, I’d hoped the book would be out by now. At times, I’ve wondered whether I should let it go, but it won’t.
No one is forcing me to write this book, but it just won’t leave me alone.
Is there something in your life that keeps tugging at the edge of your mind? Something that keeps appearing in your dreams? Something that keeps you awake at night? Is there something in you that wants you to be created? What doesn’t leave you alone?
Elizabeth Gilbert describes it like this in her book Big Magic:
The idea will organise coincidences and portents to tumble across your path, to keep your interest keen. You will start to notice all sorts of signs pointing you towards the idea. Everything you see and touch and do will remind you of the idea. The idea will wake you up in the middle of the night and distract you from your everyday routine. The idea will not leave you alone until it has your fullest attention.
And then, in a quiet moment, it will ask, “Do you want to work with me?”
At this point, you have two options for how to respond.
Gilbert says you can say, ‘No,’ and you’re off the hook. Or you could say, ‘Yes!’ and co-operate fully, humbly, and joyfully with inspiration.
It’s not as simple and as lovely as all that of course. Hard work is never easy, but at the end of the day we have a choice. In my case, I’ll finish the book and then some other idea will come and invade me I’m sure. That’s how it seems to work for a writer.
Aloha Elaine,
Nice to meet you 🙂 I was notified that you quoted me in your blog and I read your post and I really like it. Thank you for quoting me 🙂 I am always happy to see fellow writers taking writing challenges and working on their craft. And I love how you took a subject like “What won’t leave you alone?” and made it personal and relatable.
I wish you all the luck in the world going forward with your novel. I know how much work that is and that it takes a lot to keep going. I think Winston Churchill described it best when he said, “Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.” I know that as I have now written and published 5 (soon to be 6) books, that this process happens every… single… time. But it is rewarding if you persevere.
I also love this quote from Walter Kirn, who said, “At the beginning of a novel, a writer needs confidence, but after that what’s required is persistence. These traits sound similar. They aren’t. Confidence is what politicians, seducers and currency speculators have, but persistence is a quality found in termites. It’s the blind drive to keep on working that persists after confidence breaks down.”
I’m going to share your blog post on my facebook author wall and my twitter and other social media platforms.
Good luck again on your writing endeavors!
-Kealohilani